The present invention relates to a connector for optical fibers, comprising two plug pins mounted one at the end of each of the fibers, to be connected, a female reconstitution coupling having a longitudinal bore for supporting and aligning the two plug pins face to face, each of the plug pins being held in a plug body affixed to the cable containing the optical fiber to be connected, each of the plug bodies and the coupling containing snap-in connection means cooperating to affix the plug body axially to the coupling, and an operating slider mounted around each of the plug bodies and disposed so as to produce, by an axial movement toward the coupling, an engagement of cooperating locking means of the plug and coupling bodies, and to produce, by an axial movement in the opposite sense, a disengagement of the said cooperating locking means and a separation of the plug body from the coupling.
The quick-action connectors for optical fibers of the so-called push-pull type, such as those sold by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Company under the reference SC are very simple to operate once the plug body containing the plug pin is mounted and affixed to the cable containing the optical fiber, since the operations of connecting and disconnecting from the coupler are performed by simple pushing and pulling movements on the operating slider.
On the other hand, these known connectors have important disadvantages for the user in the operation of mounting the plug body and pin plug on the optical fiber cable, in particular, owing to the great number of components that have to be manipulated for the purpose of assembly.
Thus, the structure of the coupling, of the plug body and of the operating slider, particularly due to the arrangement of the cooperating locking means and surfaces for guiding these components one on the other, is such that in the assembled state the guiding slider covers the rear portion of the plug body at which the latter has to be affixed by crimping to the optical fiber cable, such that the operating slider can be installed on the plug body only after the latter has been affixed to the optical fiber. Consequently, in practice, before proceeding to install the plug body and plug pin on the fiber-optic cable, the user has a separate plug body and a separate operating slider and cannot place the operating slider on the plug body until the latter has been attached to the cable.
Furthermore, the structure of the plug pin and plug body of the known connectors makes relatively delicate the operation of setting the plug pin in place at the end from which the end of the optical fiber was introduced and affixed by gluing, considering particularly the need to insert a compression spring thrusting against the surfaces of the plug body and plug pin to push the latter resiliently toward the center of the coupling, and thus isolate any mechanical stress on the plug body.